A good choice?

Our choice of weekend destination was going to be tested this morning, when we stepped outside with the intention of getting our bearings in the city.

It was the most glorious morning. A clear blue sky, a fresh chill in the air without it being too cold for comfort and all evidence of last evening’s shenanigans gone. Well, except for the odd reminder where the police horses had been stationed, that is.

We were up and out early, finding a simple spot for breakfast before heading towards Point State Park, fairly close to our hotel. The rest of the city was waking up slowly this morning it seemed.

As in most major cities, there are public cycles available and someone had had some fun here.

At the entrance to the park stood four crystal reindeer - or rather, three crystal reindeer, because one had fallen over. Strangely, although it had broken into several pieces, it hadn’t shattered into tiny fragments. I looked more closely, expecting it to be made of acrylic or perspex, but no - they were all ice sculptures! It must be colder than we imagined it to be.

There was a distinct “morning after” feeling to those opposite, with the tinsel and candy canes strewn on the pathway beside them. I wonder how long they’ll stand before they melt?

The bright sunshine this morning brought out the best. Joggers passing by offered a cheery “Good Morning!” and we were in good spirits; happy to be here.

The park is at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and it’s from here the Ohio River begins. It’s certainly a spectacular spot and easy to see why a city was built here.

One thing we enjoy about American cities is coming across these little plaques here and there, with nuggets of history upon them. Here at our feet was one noting the importance of this place.

On the southerly side of the Monongahela are steep bluffs and from here, we could see the Duquesne Incline - those little red funicular cars. We’d got that on our list of “to do” things whilst we’re here.

Here too, high above the city was a higgledy-piggledy collection of houses right there on the edge of the bluff. They must have the most fantastic view and I imagine that is a prized location.

Rather than return the way we’d come, we followed a path down towards the Allegheny River and followed the riverside walk for a while. Over on the opposite bank was the Heinz Field, home to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Panthers. This is a real sporting city and even though we have been here just a short time, we’ve noticed how many people wear something showing their allegiance to the Steelers, Penguins, Panthers, Pirates or whatever.

It’s a city of bridges too. This listing mentions 446 of them! We thought they were looking pretty spectacular in the sunshine though walking in the shade, we were starting to feel a little chilled.

Another stadium! This time, the PNC stadium, home to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. Though we were enjoying our walk, it was slowly dawning on us that at some point, we’d like to find a way back into the city - right now, there was a freeway in between where we were and where we might like to go sometime shortly! Hmmm….

Never mind for now, though. Take a picture of another bridge; one of three with similar design, this one being the Andy Warhol Bridge. The map alongside shows the walkway we are following and a pathway back up into the city before too long. Phew.

After a bit of a false start with a roped off set of steps by the next bridge, we were happy to see a ramp at the next one and followed it up to street level and the sunshine again!

Here was another of those small plaques; another Historic Landmark. This was marking the construction of the bridge in 1925-26 and listed those responsible.

As we crossed the road and turned the corner, I was looking into the square when my Hero began to sing “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike”. What?

He had spotted some street art - a bicycle rack, it turns out - and pointed it out to me. Cute, isn’t it?

My eye had been caught by another of those historical plaques, this one being of the “who knew?” variety.

By now it was about 9.45am - I told you we had started early! - and the tourist information office was nearby, opening at 10. We decided to go into the commercial centre and find somewhere to sit and wait.

We are both punctual people, so imagine our irritation when there was still no sign of it opening any time soon at getting on for 10 past 10. Around quater past, a chap carrying carrier bags in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other came huffing and puffing to the door - no apology, just some kind of reason for being late and a totally unfocused verbal outburst based on our being British and him liking Diana Rigg. Then he opened the door and switched the light on.

My Hero and I always enjoy doing our research first and to be truthful, there wasn’t a great deal we needed to know. We did, however, want an up to date map of the city centre and to confirm a couple of details about catching the light rail. But he had so much to share….and an artist to meet and greet….and other customers wanting to buy stuff…and strangely, he said, there was always a crowd of people outside when he arrived in a morning. (Yes, we were wondering why he didn’t arrive a little earlier too). We got the information we needed, made our excuses, thanked him and left. But our initial sunny mood had been over ridden by the irritation of his bluster.

Further irritation was to follow, when having just bought two day tickets for the light rail, an announcement was made in the station.

“All light rail services have now been restored however there are residual delays of up to two hours”

two hours ?!?

It was a totally unmanned station, there was no-one to offer advice and we could find no live arrival or departure information. We decided to give it until 11am and if no train had come by then, we’d have to find another way or do something totally different.

Thankfully, by 11 o’clock, a train had come and we had jumped on it, heading for Station Square.

A short walk took us to this little red building at the foot of the bluff on the southerly side of the river. We were going to ride the Monongahela Incline.

All very Victorian in feel, we had the beautifully restored and immaculately kept station to ourselves for the five or six minutes it took for the funicular railway to arrive.

Though we’ve ridden funiculars more recently in Switzerland, they always remind me of being a child in Scarborough and riding on “the lift” with my Nan and Grandad there!

We had front row seats - of course - and from there and from the top viewing platform, we had the most spectaular panoramas of the city. The journey lasts only five or six minutes and is a smooth and relatively comfortable means of getting to the top of that steep incline.

We could see where we’d been earlier in the morning, the Heinz Field there on the other side of the river and the yellow bridge, over which we’d driven last night and from where I’d taken that blurry photo in yesterday’s blog post.

And we could see downtown, where we planned to explore later.

After a short walk around the appropriately named Grandview Ave, we took the funicular down again.

This time, we had company.

No sooner had I taken my photograph than a train arrived and we were on our way back downtown. Getting around is so easy - as long as the light rail is running!

When I edit my photographs to post here, there’s always a couple that catch my eye. This was one of them today. I rather like the muted colours and the slightly grainy effect through the train window.

This was the other one. I thought initially that it was another piece of street art, but then the chap moved and I realised it was nothing of the sort!

Sadly, the story of downtown Pittsburgh is similar to that of other cities, one of faded glory. There are many such plaques on the buildings around here, telling of their former inhabitants and their lives.

The buildings themselves are largely still here though, monuments to their former grandeur and many of them bearing the names of the most influential people of the day: Carnegie, Frick and Mellon.

They are lavishly decorated and I had a few marked on my map to take a closer look at.

We stepped inside the Oliver building - now suites of offices and an Embassy Suites hotel - and spoke to the guy on the reception desk, admiring his place of work.

“There’s a restaurant and a gastropub on the 25th floor with great views” he said.

So there was! The Great Lakes Brewing Company Christmas Ale was'n’t half bad either!

This had been a day of fine views then, each one being spectacular for different reasons. Here, we were viewing the downtown area from close quarters and the quirks and architectural details we’d missed previously suddenly became the focus.

This post is getting rather long and very picture heavy….join me in the next one to see the view from a different window.